


In Your Eyes

by cherryfluffyfuzzysocks



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, In Your Eyes AU, POV Alternating, Soulmates, Swearing, also the fact that this is the second umadrey ao3 fic EVER?? criminal, but yeah I just love these two, let this ship sail, some mal and ben bashing but this is uma and audrey what do you expect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-05-07 05:58:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14664723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryfluffyfuzzysocks/pseuds/cherryfluffyfuzzysocks
Summary: The first time it happened was when they were kids.ORAudrey and Uma share a rare and powerful soulmate connection, but magic is forbidden in Auradon.





	1. Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Parts of this concept taken from the movie, "In Your Eyes," other parts from me. Enjoy!

The first time it happened was when they were kids.

Young Princess Audrey, five years of age; energetic, rosy cheeked, a stranger to misery. She wanted for nothing, everything a young royal of Auradon could wish for placed in her lap before the request could be made. In her pretty pink castle of blissful ignorance, she could enjoy these blessings without guilt thinking of others less fortunate than she.

At the top of a snow-covered hill, she sniffed in slight discomfort at the cold despite the many layers of clothing her handmaidens had been sure to bundle her up in before sending her outside to play as per her demands. Funny, the hill had looked so inviting from inside, just waiting to be ridden, but from the top she could feel a strange anxiety bubbling at the height.

But she was no cowardly princess, so she merely huffed out another cold breath before settling into her favorite red sled under the watchful eyes of the guards.

She took another deep breath and pushed herself forward with excitement, ready to feel the fresh winter air blowing on her face as she raced down as fast as she could. But instead, another sensation took over her body, sudden and alien like a jump scare (but at the same time natural, as though she’d been waiting all her life for a missing body part to finally snap into place).

She was crouched into a dirty street corner, grinding her teeth together and glaring at passerby. She felt cold but a not a good kind. A still, biting cold that sunk deep into her bones through thin tattered clothes and tried to lock up her joints. She felt sore as though she’d been forced to work all day and the sensation was dreadfully foreign, something she’d been promised to never feel in her lifetime. She felt fear—another rare thing—overwhelm her in a way it hadn’t before.

She sat there shivering until suddenly she was sprawled out on the snowy ground. Blinking in confusion, at first she could only register snowflakes falling gently from above and the crunching sound of booted footsteps running in snow. Then a wave of physical pain rolled in like a storm, and she wailed at the top her lungs.

Quickly, guards lifted her up and away from the snowbank, forgetting the discarded sled which had veered off into woodland after her crash (this was the story she was fed later over warm chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate by the royals’ roaring fireplace).

Eventually, she would brush off the memory of starving on a street corner as a mere bad dream—it had to be, the idea that any of it was real too absurd to entertain. Even so, she never forgot. The feeling haunted her, lingering in the back of her mind as she indulged in the luxurious lifestyle her birthright had given her.

Yes, her parents would never allow such a situation to transpire. A princess didn’t starve. A princess didn’t have to fend for herself among those who’d wish her harm.

As if to prove it, she snuggled deeper into her nest of think blankets at night and never strayed far from the view of her guards, even if her more daring friends did so often. She always finished her meals and she always sat up straight. She was a _princess_.

* * *

 

Uma was left to fend for herself that cold winter’s day after her mother screeched about some dirty dishes as she tossed her daughter out of the house, not forgetting to lock the door and take her keys.

It was freezing, and she was hungry, but she doubted her own restaurant would be allowed to serve her, and she was too tired to steal. The cold had drawn in more customers that day who were more willing to indulge in hot food, rather than contend with Auradon’s scraps. It was good because it made her mom happy (or more like not-angry), but it was bad because the work exhausted her sooner than she’d like.

And then she’d forgotten about clean-up duty, so here she was with no food at all and no shelter from the still cold of the air. She’d fumed and stalked the marketplace for awhile, but the vendors had turned quite vigilant and chased her off the property with their makeshift knives and weapons. And what was an unarmed, overworked little five-year-old to do but find a semi-safe secluded corner to freeze in?

She’d been sitting there for awhile, glaring at any passerby who dared to look for longer than a second, when a sudden jarring sensation overtook her body: an invigorating rush of cold air hitting her face, a thrill of speed she’d never felt before tingling through her as her body was propelled downward through fresh snow and snowflakes. She felt _happy_ , in a way she never had before, and felt a thrilled giggle leave her at the scene. Was this the incredible magic the adults mourned? It was happy adrenaline times a thousand, and she never wanted to stop.

Uma had almost reached the bottom of the slope when a patch of ice threw her off the (giant plate?) thingy and she tumbled into fresh powder, not even mad, only surprised whilst still riding off the high of her journey.

And then she was snapped back to the street corner, staring up at the scowling face of her mother.

“Well? Those dishes aren’t going to do themselves.”

\---

Her whole life, Uma had been trying to make sense of that experience, but the best she could come up with was some lame hunger- and cold-induced hallucination. It didn’t account for how _real_ the experience felt, or how it felt like reconnecting with a missing part of herself somewhere far away.

Sometimes—when things got bad, as they often did on the Isle—she’d close her eyes and try to remember what it felt like to sled down a fresh snow-covered hill just for the thrill of it, recalling vainly the rush she’d felt and wishing she could feel it again.

\---

Years of odd sensations and unexplained emotions passed between the two as they grew older, both slowly but surely beginning to realize another ghostly presence beside (no, _inside_ ) themselves. But they were afraid.

* * *

 

Uma had the constant task of survival at hand, whether it was keeping up with her mother’s inane list of demands or assembling a gang of loyal Isle kids to look out for each other. After Mal’s betrayal, she had to find some other means of partnership with the many toughened kids who also couldn’t cower beneath the dragon’s wing for protection. She had her pirate crew.

Harry Hook who craved to be someone’s—anyone’s—first choice, first mate. Someone Uma could finally trust not to stab her in the back because she knew she was his everything. Then Gil, the runt of Gaston’s sons who simply needed a place to belong, to be needed and appreciated for who he was, kindness and all. Kind people didn’t last long on their own on the Isle of the Lost, and like many others Uma had at first sneered at his request to follow her.

But then the alien, uncomfortably warm feeling of compassion gripped her cold survivor’s heart and she took pity on his kindness. She recognized the ghost’s presence urging her to accept him, and she had no choice but to bend to this want as she felt it herself.

More and more were accepted, until eventually Uma found herself the head of the Isle’s largest gang. And they were truly loyal, all of them, because she’d taken them in when they weren’t at their strongest or most useful, and she made them more than survivors. They were a family; they protected each other as they grew fierce and formidable together. They took what they wanted.

Uma used to think the presence inside her was weakness because it weeped, but maybe it was the reason she’d made it this far at all. Often, she was greeted by the surprise of similar out-of-body experiences like the first: her favorite was a dance of ballgowns of every color of the rainbow, the likes of which she'd only seen in grainy still on the Chip Shop's TV. Beautiful music graced her ears with a tune that was stuck in her head for days, which she softly hummed and swayed to while chopping squid or scrubbing plates. The experience was so strong that it even came with foreign emotions, an even more special sensation. She, or her other presence, felt _loved_. Celebrated. Felt beautiful herself.

She hugged this memory close to her heart just like another of squeezing a fluffy teddy bear for comfort. And as Uma grew and became stronger, more capable, more close to those around her, the sensation also grew in intensity. They became more frequent: a near-daily gift of anything from gentle breezes to soft fabric to the sound of laughter with no maliciousness behind it. Instead of being afraid, Uma accepted them even if she couldn't understand their cause.

Then, at fourteen years old, she felt a punch to her gut late in the night. She felt suddenly cold and empty, trapped in her own life and her own body alone. _Where is the presence?_ She asked with no answer. Even the sleeping body of Harry Hook next to her couldn't chase off the emptiness of her soul.  _Where is the presence?_  She asked herself. She asked for many years after that long night, the odd painful feeling that a part of herself had been severed never truly leaving even into her teenage years.

The only proof that there was any magical “connection” at all still inside her were the erratic sensations of touch, smell, taste, and hearing she’d get. Sometimes it comforted her with the briefest flashes of warm blankets, bird’s song, or melting chocolate on her tongue. Still, they were never as strong as when she was a child and she longed for more.

Uma remembered being transported constantly to another realm, a magical land of light and luxury, but now she was lucky to catch a random scent of perfume. Unexplainable loneliness replaced these experiences, leaving her to toss and turn in her quarter of the pirate ship every night before finding fitful sleep.

Sometimes Harry or Gil—sometimes Harry and Gil—accompanied her, but even her first mates’ usually comforting presence failed to fully defeat the feeling. She had lost a world, maybe even a person, possibly forever. The thought cut deeper than she would have liked, and it ate her up inside.

One night shortly after Mal’s coronation disaster aired on TV, her crew managed to get their hands on a bottle of bad wine; needless to say, they all needed the pick-me-up. But it was evening, which meant that Uma’s secret loneliness was hitting her full-force and the wine was only making it stronger. She had to tell someone, anyone, and that person was fortunately Harry.

Unfortunately, he’d stayed sober that night to look after her, so the next day he remembered everything. But he never judged her or thought less of her as a leader because of it; he only comforted her whenever these feelings hit and kept the secret safely locked between them. He was as clueless as she to the sensations’ cause, but they both suspected magic.

Harry could tell whenever Uma was having a brief episode because he claimed that her whole aura changed; she didn’t even look like herself. Later, she included Gil in this secret too, and he suspected that another person entirely was to blame.

* * *

 

Audrey told her parents because she told them everything.

Until she turned fourteen, they were only mildly concerned, comforted by the explanation of wild childhood imagination or even leftover magic from Maleficent’s curse. But as she grew older, the experiences only grew stronger and more frequent until they disrupted her everyday life with pain and panic attacks and foreign feelings of fear and aggression.

Finally, they took her to see Fairy Godmother, fearing the influence of new magic. She inspected her with various enchanted instruments, after gaining the king’s approval, and settled on a diagnosis.

“This is very old magic, arcane really.” She smiled in apology. “It’s something we haven’t quite managed to eradicate yet, but the good news is we can suppress it.”

She held out a pill bottle: Magical Sensation Suppressant Drug.

“I thought only magic users had to take that.” Audrey’s father protested with disdain in his voice.

Fairy Godmother’s smile tightened. “This is a soulmate connection, which means the magic is a part of her and always has been. If we want to suppress the strength of her connection, this is the only way.”

Audrey cried and despaired because she was cursed just like her parents. A part of her was magical just like the evil fairy that cursed them. She didn’t want to be evil; she didn’t want to be different.

And her parents completely agreed. They ensured the safety of this secret, keeping it hushed within the confines of the castle and making sure that she never missed a dose.

Like Fairy Godmother warned, the medicine didn’t completely erase the foreign sensations. She still felt the occasional grip of fight-or-flight or hopelessness or pride, and sometimes her legs felt wrong and she heard phantom voices raising a raucous around her—unknown yet familiar somehow. But they didn’t intrude on her life, and she was never ripped suddenly from her own surroundings to experience a scene she didn’t want.

Something else festered inside her, however, at the loss. She felt unbearably lonely falling to sleep at night without the feeling of someone else inside her, living their life with her presence. She wondered if her soulmate, as rotten as their life seemed to be, felt the impact of the pills as strongly as she did or if they still felt her as deeply as ever. What if her life was their comfort and she was being selfish in trying to take it away?

\---

Not everyone had a soulmate. In fact, the phenomenon was a rarity.

In the era before the the Beast administration, the discovery of a soulmate connection used to be celebrated as a blessing. Those special few would spend their lives searching for each other with the aid of entire communities and Magical Mentors to help them on their quest. But then the United States of Auradon was formed and its anti-magic propaganda was spread and people suddenly didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.

Magic users became ashamed of their gift and those otherwise afflicted by its touch tried their best to hide it. The phenomenon of soulmates was now a curse. No longer did families rejoice in the news of a new sensation, wondering if it could be a clue to finding the other. Now it was a source of pity, an affliction.

_“Oh, poor Audrey felt the cold touch of metal on her palms today. When will this wretched soulmate leave her alone?”_

Surrounded by this fear and pity, Audrey adopted the same mindset on her sickness. She dutifully took her pills and renounced the feelings of emptiness and loneliness that came with it. She wanted nothing to do with her other half and told herself she would be perfectly content to never meet him or her or whomever in person. She was a princess and would find herself the prince that her birthright demanded.

She clung to Prince Ben as soon as he showed interest in her, and she felt relief in the promise of security. Surely a prince could protect her from the cursed influence of a soulmate.

But then she locked eyes with Mal for the first time and felt the strongest wave of foreign emotion that she’d felt in a long time: betrayal. She knew it was her soulmate because she had never seen this girl before but she recognized her all too well like a longtime enemy, onetime lover. A spark of jealousy made its way through the hate and betrayal, this emotion hers.

But she couldn’t feel jealousy for a lover of her soulmate: she had Ben! She had Ben and she needed no one else. So she clung tighter to his arm, shivering at the pulse of the connection. Of course she’d taken her pill that day but sometimes it wasn’t enough. A part of her ached to confide in him just so he’d understand her insecurity, but at the same time she knew that such a shameful secret could only be shared with utmost caution.

 _When we get married then,_ she resolved.

Things went from bad to worse with the Isle kids, as anyone could have predicted.

Ben _sang_ for the dragon-eyed magic user who broke her soulmate’s heart (not that she cared… she was the one who ought to feel betrayed). Suddenly, her rock-solid foundation was gone. Panicked, she lept towards the nearest royal blooded male and announced their relationship as if announcing to her soulmate that they couldn’t fill the void in her body that easy.

But instead of feeling better, she felt worse. She never loved Ben as much as she wanted to, but he was tolerable and steady until he wasn’t. Chad was something new: no spark of connection or love there, not even necessarily friendship, but at least he was on her side.

Events passed by, family day and coronation and Ben and Mal’s celebrity status, and quickly she fell into depression. The nightly ache of loneliness intensified, tearing her gut apart well into morning’s light when she no longer felt glee at being able to dampen her connection with the swallow of a pill. She missed her soulmate.

It got to a point where Audrey found herself, for the first time, washing her evening dose down the drain. She stared without emotion at its absence and then quietly made her way to bed.

For a few minutes, she felt nothing as always. The seconds ticked by on her bedside clock and her heart pounded with anticipation. And then, slowly, she felt the sway of a rocking boat beneath her, back and forth, and the smell of seawater fill her nostrils. She lay on a hard slab of wooden planks with only an itchy blanket to cover her body.

For the first time since toddlerhood, she experienced sight too. She stared straight up at a creaky wooden ceiling littered with barnacles and other unpleasant stains. As a child, she would have recoiled and started crying for her mom to come make the nasty vision go away, but now she was only curious and relieved to be seeing anything.

She felt a huff of foul breath exhale next to her and she flinched, immediately shoving away the offending body next to her, causing him to violently scramble awake and reach for a knife. But when he looked around and saw only her (or her soulmate, more like), his face relaxed into relief and then wonder.

“Are you the one? Uma’s missing other half?” He whispered.

Audrey sputtered. He _knew_?

“Ah, so you are. I’m Gil. You don’t need to be afraid of me. I’m at the service of the captain.” He proudly declared. “So, what’s it like for you wherever you are? I have a feeling it’s nice. Are you in Auradon? I’ve always wanted to go to Auradon.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Audrey surprised herself with the ability to speak. Her voice sounded different, probably because it wasn’t her voice. _Freaky_.

“So you _are_ from Auradon!” Gil cheered. “Wait ‘till Uma finds out! Or is Uma still there?”

He excitedly leaned in closer. “Uma, are you there?”

Uma was in wonderland.

She gazed at her plush surroundings in wonder, realizing with overwhelming joy that she was experiencing a full episode right out of her childhood. A pink satin canopy enclosed an enormous king-sized bed, stuffed with more pillows and blankets and stuffed animals than she’d ever seen in her life. They hugged her in like a cocoon, and _this_ was what she was missing.

A gentle tick of a clock and soft artificial wave sounds graced her ears, and she thought she could make out the glow of a few pink night lights through the curtains. She relaxed her head against the pillow underneath her which felt exactly how she used to imagine sleeping on a cloud felt like. But more than that, she felt whole.

The loneliness was gone; her mysterious other half was here with her. Uma could feel her inside of her, she could _feel_ that she was a she. She cradled the girl’s presence inside her and almost wept with joy.

“Where have you been?” She cried out loud.

“I’ve been here the whole time.” Audrey supplied in response.

 _Audrey_ , her name was Audrey. The connection swelled.

Audrey felt joy as strong as her soulmate’s—Uma’s. Uma, her soulmate. It felt wonderful to finally place a name to the presence she’d felt all her life; she felt stronger than ever. Audrey could cry. How could she let her parents and a government mandate keep her away from her soulmate for so long? The magic of the universe itself said they belonged together; how could resisting its natural pull ever be justified? Audrey wept in guilt and vaguely felt the arms of Gil surround her as the much stronger presence of Uma enveloped her spirit tightly.

“I’m sorry, Uma.” Audrey apologized as she was finally able to. “I suppressed our connection because I was afraid. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t realize the blessing I was throwing away.”

Uma felt her pain deeply and sent her forgiveness. They were together now, and that was all that mattered. The glow of wounds healed settled between them.

“We’re soulmates, Uma.” When Audrey smiled, they both felt it.

Uma was confused because she’d never heard of the term before. The words _“Tell me about it”_ and _“Gladly”_ were never exchanged aloud, but in their hearts, each knew exactly what the other meant. They stayed awake the rest of the night discussing their connection, catching up on years of missed lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now they just have to meet in person... what do you think will happen? ;)


	2. Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3

Audrey broke up with Chad over text the next morning.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Uma’s voice resounded across the barrier that separated them.

There was insecurity in that voice, a worry that Audrey’s unceremonial dumping of the prince may have something to do with their now fully realized connection. A worry not entirely unfounded, but mysterious nonetheless to the princess.

“I know. I wanted to.” Audrey gently reassured her.

The fearful feeling slowly festering in Audrey’s chest made no sense to her, knowing well that Uma was her one and only soulmate destined to one day complete her unfinished soul. Chad was merely a sign of her old insecurity, a wall she no longer needed to preserve a deep-rooted shame of her connection, of her very half-existence without Uma. The fact that their inevitable breakup scared her was confusing.

“Captain!” Audrey heard sharp and clear.

Quickly, she turned to the left to meet the voice but sighed when her alarm clock reading 7:20AM was the only sight to greet her. These stronger connections could be very off putting at times; she was still getting used to them. Then she groaned when she realized her alarm for school would be going off in 10 minutes. She wasn’t ready to return to Auradon yet.

“Oh, Captain. Are you still talking to her?” This voice echoed fainter in Audrey’s ears, not because the speaker was talking quietly but because their connection was often finicky.

As if to prove this, Uma’s response was lost in the void, leaving Audrey with that terribly empty feeling for a few seconds until she returned. They didn’t speak further, instead taking the time to simply drink in one another’s presence. It felt wonderful in a strange way to always be on the same page with someone, their wants and needs colliding constantly.

They talked all night and still had so many words left unspoken, but sometimes they just needed to breathe as a whole entity. They felt their hearts beat as one, their inhales and exhales finally join as an aching to kiss, and that was enough for the moment.

Audrey’s alarm blared, and she smacked it quiet without thinking. Uma was startled however, so she explained its purpose and meaning. Auradon Prep was calling. Its princes and princesses who worshipped the king and the dragon who humiliated her, who only a few short months ago held the kingdom at gunpoint. But no, Audrey was the bitch now. Intolerant because it wasn’t easy to accept Mal, not as a peer but as a future ruler.

How could she bow to the girl who cursed her way to everything she wanted and lied, lied,  _ lied _ as naturally as her namesake? She could see Maleficent in her stride down hallways, in the green of her eyes and the smooth honey of her lies. But Audrey was the bitch. The snide looks and whispered insults she met with daily informed her of this, this and the painful knowledge that she’d only ever mattered as a side-piece to Ben.

Rotten shrimp filled her nostrils then, the smell awful and powerful enough to bring tears to her eyes—or maybe it was the greasy feeling of it seeping into her hair or the sound of mocking laughter from people she thought she could trust, or the malicious green eyes she’d once allowed herself to fall for sneering back at her. Unforgiving. Audrey cried at Uma’s memory, much stronger than the feeling of betrayal she’d felt so long ago.

“Mal’s the bitch.” Uma said.

It was all she needed to say for their hurt to be validated as one within the other.

Alas, the young voices of Uma’s pirate crew were raising in volume from above along with the muffled noises of Auradon girls in neighboring dorms preparing for the day. Mutually, they pulled away from verbal conversation to return to their lives, but the feeling of the other’s presence within themselves remained, as it would remain until they had no more life to live.

\---

_ Mal’s back on the Isle. _

From Harry’s report to Uma’s ears to Audrey’s, the whisper spread like wildfire through the dingy wharf she called home. So many emotions arose at this news that Uma likely wouldn’t be able to pick them apart if she tried, but eventually she allowed the dust to settle on joy.

The joy of revenge, retribution, long overdue payback not only for herself but her soulmate. And hell, every villain kid she’d raised to be able to defend themselves because fighting was surviving and surviving was the best they could hope for. Mal’s little “trip” to Auradon had cost the kids of the Isle to do the worst thing possible: hope.

Before the coronation, Maleficent had proudly paraded the small stretch of island she conquered with the news that  _ her _ daughter—young Mal soon to inherit her full name—would be the one to free them all. She would take the wand, she would break the barrier, she would free them all. Auradon would be theirs.

For the first time ever, the Isle of the Lost’s many rival gangs came together in truce, including Uma’s beloved crew. Of course she still harbored a sour history with the former sorceress’s daughter, but if she were to truly pull this off and achieve the unthinkable… well, the slate would be more than clean. She could see a world where her youngest recruits were allowed to enjoy their youth like the kids on the grainy toy ads that sometimes played on the chip shop’s TV.

Where Gil didn’t have to muscle his way through life and instead raise the goldfish pond he always talked about. Where Harry Hook could travel the fantastical world of his father’s descriptions on the boat of his birthright, which only sat lame and defunct on the Isle. Lame like Uma’s false legs which itched stronger with each day closer to the coronation, itching to stretch into the eight gorgeous tentacles of  _ her _ birthright.

For the first time ever, the Isle  _ hoped _ , and Mal turned her back anyway.

She decided to hoard the freedom for herself, and that was the one thing Uma truly could not forgive.

But Mal back on the Isle… Mal back on the Isle was another possible opportunity.

An opportunity which only grew when the rest of her ragtag band of traitors and—jackpot—the king himself followed suit. Hope had returned to the Isle of the Lost, and damn it all if Uma wasn’t going to take advantage.

Audrey was reeling.

It was enough that her whole worldview and understanding of the Isle had shifted overnight with her and Uma’s first real conversation, but now she was thinking the thoughts and feeling the feelings of a revolution against everything she knew. She’d feared for the kingdom of Auradon when Mal held Fairy Godmother’s wand in her hands like a weapon that first time.

She used to have nightmares about the barrier being broken and Maleficent escaping, which only worsened after  _ exactly that _ had happened. But her soulmate connection to Uma had forced her to realize that the Isle of the Lost was much more than a prison for villains and villains-in-training. It was also a prison for the innocent, trapped right alongside and at the mercy of the wicked.

She felt Uma’s pain watching her crew, her family, eat the rotten leftovers of Auradon. She wretched with the taste in her own mouth, looking guiltily at the five-course meals offered at every royal gala. Audrey felt her gnawing hunger too, when Ursula’s kitchen and the goblins’ trash pile ran dry. Villains’ offspring survived off a cycle of pain and luck all for sins they never committed; they fought for everything they ever had. It was all they knew.

Uma’s was a unique situation due to her link to Audrey, so she knew the teasing taste of chocolate, the fleeting scent of roses, the briefest feeling of safety. And Audrey, meanwhile, was forced to contend with the situation she knew all along but never had the guts to admit: what Auradon, what King Adam, what Ben’s father, had done was wrong.

He’d woven a system of oppression that extended even beyond the Isle to all magical creatures and beings just so the small population known to Audrey could flourish beyond reason. Uma guided her through her guilt, more patient than she had a right to be, and Audrey resolved to help Uma with her quest in any way she could.

(She herself had lived a life of shame thanks to the king’s world, after all.)

Which was why when Uma kidnapped her ex for ransom, Audrey only said “Fuck the crown.”

“Fuck the crown indeed.” Uma smiled in her adorable way and spray-painted just that on the side of the chip shop.

“ _ Princess _ Audrey said that?” Harry gaped next to her.

Uma laughed. “And that’s how we know this whole soulmate thing is legit.”

Mal came when she said she would, in all her former glory. Uma decided to have fun with the experience; it was long overdue after all. So she teased, and they wrestled: unexpectedly, Audrey was able to help in the fight with the effort of two arms in one. The strength of their connection really was growing by the day when unhindered by medicine.

Uma taunted Ben on her ship, the man who never seemed directly responsible for ruining their lives yet had no problems standing by and doing nothing.

He chased after Mal under a love potion’s haze, then decided he liked her better after all and never bothered apologizing to the girl he didn’t break up with in the first place. He inherited an absolute monarchy, a dictatorship, from his father which exploited far more than it cared for. He cherry-picked four kids and left the rest to rot. But no, he was  _ trying _ to change. Sure.

Uma was done waiting around for generosity that would never come. She laughed when the king invited her to Auradon, knowing well he was only looking after himself. What of her crew? Her family? The children she’d sworn allegiance to just as they did her? Maybe Mal was comfortable leaving so many behind, but Uma would sooner throw herself to Tick-Tock.

The wand was hers, the freedom within her grasp. And she’d done it all on her own.

“We’ll see each other soon, love.” Uma promised with a smile on her face.

And Audrey felt warm inside, a feeling she held close to her heart when coming from the girl who’d only known cold. Auradon wasn’t in danger. It never was. They had guards and magic users of their own to fight those who’d threaten the goodness. The only danger posed by a broken barrier was the exposing of Auradon’s own evil, hidden beneath the surface for too long.

But before the wand-king exchange could be made, Uma surprised her with more promises.

“Once the barrier is gone, a lot of good kids will be free but also a lot of bad people,” Uma whispered. She was temporarily separated from her crew, only Gil and Harry stuck by her side now. They listened attentively, wondering what important information their captain trusted them to know. Audrey listened too from her broken-down car in the middle of nowhere.

“I’ll try my best to get to you, but in case something happens and I can’t be there, my crew needs to be able to recognize you,” Uma spoke low and authoritative, “Our secret code is: if you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you’ve got to pay the toll.”

The three stood silent, soaking the words into memory.

Harry hummed, “Where have I heard that before?”

“One of my mother’s ramblings. Not important.” Uma brushed off, already breaking away from their huddle to rejoin her pirate ranks. “First, we have a wand to claim.”

\---

Mal tricked her, because  _ of course she did _ .

But once Uma (and by extension, Audrey) saw through the haze of anger and crushing disappointment, a new plan quickly formed in its place. Uma admitted that she’d always struggled to swim with human legs, the motion never quit clicking no matter how many times Ursula had tossed her to the waves as a child. Audrey could, her parents paying for swim lessons as soon as she’d reached the proper age. The plan was a shot in the dark, but they had to try.

Uma didn’t hesitate; she grabbed the dragon fae’s fallen spellbook and lept into the ocean, closing her eyes and willfully surrendering her body to the other.

She slipped into Audrey, a natural fit, sweating under Auradon sun. She found herself sat in the black leather driver’s seat of a pink convertible, sweating. Her jewelry sat heavy around her neck and wrists, the forest air humid in her lungs. Uma felt the slightest bit guilty then, because she had no idea how Audrey had managed to get a flat tire out in the wilderness.

But to be fair, the day had been one for the history books with the promise of freedom from the Isle, so she had a viable excuse for being less than attentive to her soulmate’s life.

This experience was… unique, to say the least. For the first time in awhile, Uma felt alone in her body without Audrey’s presence inside her (it was still there, just unusually faint), but this time she wasn’t alone in the body she was born with. Uma’s soul had completely spilled into Audrey’s, and Audrey’s into hers. Never before had they attempted such a concerted effort like this, and it was quite extraordinary.

She drummed her fingers absently on the wheel, still recovering from the adrenaline high of the Isle sword fight, and waited until a small metal contraption beside her buzzed. She flinched, reminding herself that it was only a phone, only someone wanting to talk to her. Or Audrey, that is. After a few moments of hesitation, she tapped the green circle like she’d seen her soulmate do once and listened.

“Audrey, hey!” Yelled an irritating masculine voice from the box. “I’ll be there in like five minutes so just hang tight for me, okay?”

An awkward few seconds passed before Uma managed a tight, “Okay.”

“Alright, see you soon, baby,” Crooned the voice before it cut off with a beep.

Uma growled, suddenly recalling the voice’s owner as none other than Chad, the fuckboy who didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer ever since Audrey dumped him. He’d been following her like a hound looking for handouts for awhile now, and it was getting on both their nerves. Why would Audrey ask for his help?

Frustrated by the lack of connection with the other for the time being, Uma tiredly took in the sights around her, having never seen a car or a forest before, when she spotted something unusual. Written in neat Auradon cursive were the words “open me” on a small unsuspecting sticky note attached to her purse.

Uma hesitated to invade the girl’s privacy like that, but if Audrey had gone through the trouble of writing the note for her, it was surely important. So she opened up the purse to find only a clear bag with a single half-eaten cookie inside, labeled with another sticky note: “Love Potion #9 for one Chad Charming (for one magic wand) <3.”

Uma could have choked up if not for the incredible amount of self-control she had. All this time, Audrey had been cultivating this backup plan while she focused on hostage negotiations. And now, Audrey was in her body, swimming for her very life past the barrier that had always locked her in. She’d been fighting for her all this time.

Uma smiled just thinking of her soulmate, her heart warm like only one princess could make it. Gingerly, she removed the cookie from its bag to inspect its magic signature; just as she suspected, the work of Mal. The enchantment reeked of fairy. Audrey must have searched her dorm for some magical object to help them and found this.

Uma smiled warmly again and carefully sealed it back up, not wanting too much of its precious essence to be lost in the forest air. She could tell time had passed since the spell’s concoction, but it still seemed potent enough for what she needed it to do.

A shiny black Mercedes rolled up next to Audrey’s convertible then, a curly blonde head of hair sticking out the window to smile desperately at her. Then it occurred to Uma.

No, she couldn’t use this potion on Chad. He was obnoxious and carried his entitlement in spades, sure, and she’d like it best if he left Audrey alone, but he wasn’t the villain of this story. Ben was. Ben was the one to imprison her people, to only negotiate when push came to shove, to truly break Audrey’s heart. And only Ben had the power to change anything.

While Chade replaced her tire, Uma smiled with Audrey’s lips and choked down her disgust to thank him in a polite princess way. The drive to the Auradon Prep dorms and Ben had her squirming with anticipation, tasting the promise of a new world at her fingertips.

\---

Audrey’s lungs were burning and her muscles were aching, but she couldn’t quit now when she was so close to shore. She had no idea how long she’d been swimming, but the effort was slowly eating her alive. Or Uma, rather. There were no breaks out in the middle of the ocean, not unless she wanted to drown her soulmate.

As a princess, she didn’t know the physical pain of survival, and as a soulmate to the daughter of Ursula, she could only experience it in waves. As a soulmate completely in the body of her other half, she grew quite familiar with it.

It was the same tiring motions again and again just to keep herself afloat and moving forward. The ocean water dragged at her clothes, a slow force always vying her drag her down to death if she didn’t keep herself sharp.

It seemed unfair, Audrey thought, that the king had thought to curse Uma in such a way that she was born to a body unfit for her own homeland. The ocean was where she belonged. She could feel it in the way Uma would often stare out at its beckoning call from the pirate ship, longing to reunite. But there were memories holding her back, of the saltwater choking her human lungs and dragging at her human legs, punishing the false land form she was cursed with.

Audrey soldiered on, refusing to fall victim to the beautiful but unforgiving mass of water the mermaids called home. More senseless, struggling time passed before her feet suddenly met sandy resistance. She sighed happily, too tired to properly rejoice, and crawled onward to heave Uma’s body to shore.

Finally, she collapsed panting on the bank, allowing the ocean waves to rush on and offshore around her. She felt faint, wondering if now was the time to try reconnecting with her soulmate and her own body or if she should at least try to find shelter first. Some safe place for Uma where she wouldn’t easily be recognized.

For awhile though, she could only pant and admire the setting sun behind her. When the sky was finally plunged into darkness, then she had the energy to reach out.

“We made it to Auradon, Uma.” She spoke to the dusk.

Audrey waited a moment, then two, then felt a twin heartbeat alongside her own, Uma’s presence rushing back to encompass Audrey’s and her own body.

“I missed you, love.” Uma whispered, teasing Audrey’s affection in her special way.

“I missed you too.” Audrey answered with her own voice, her own lips.

She had to blink harshly a few times to adjust to the new sensations overwhelming her in her original body. Tentatively, she stretched out her own limbs, soft and unstrained by the physical abuse of swimming from Isle to mainland. She was in… unfamiliar clothes in an all too familiar dorm.

Panicked, she stood straight to look into the full-length mirror right where she remembered it being. She wore an  [ elegant pink gown ](https://umaudreyrise.tumblr.com/post/174220856920/reference-picture-for-my-umaudrey-fic-on-ao3) adorned by silver flowers; it hugged her figure nicely before cascading down her legs to end in a train by her feet, all soft pink waves of tulle. She was dressed for an event, for—no.

“Uma, you didn’t.” Audrey cried out.

“I’m sorry, but I did. I would have consulted you if I could, it’s just -,” Uma’s hesitation hung between them both. “You deserve revenge, Audrey. Against the one person who deserves it. This way, we get the wand, the permanent change, and  _ you _ can reject  _ him _ .”

Audrey’s hands shook just being in his dorm again. “I can’t. I can’t even be in the same room as him without wanting to scream, I-I’ll -,”

“I’ll be with you the whole time,” Uma reassured like a caress on her skin. Weakly, Audrey leaned into the sensation. “If he touches you, I’ll cut his hand off.”

Audrey could feel the sincerity behind her statement and it comforted her, but she was still nervous. Could she really do this?

“You can.” Uma urged again.

This time, it filled her with determination. All her old feelings of anger and betrayal came rushing back, the humiliation she’d felt when two whole schools bore witness the end of their ten month relationship, the isolation when no one supported her afterwards, not even Ben. Not even Ben, who didn’t even apologize. He picked four kids and left the rest to starve. She was done being afraid of him, having to skirt the halls of her own school with care not to see him. She was done feeling shame.

Uma’s arms wrapped around her from afar, no doubt feeling everything she was and encouraging her to do what she longed to. Tonight, Auradon belonged to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this update was worth the wait!!! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and tbh I can't wait for the next one :)  
> (Spent an absurd amount of time choosing Audrey's cotillion gown, so I hope you enjoy that reference pic as much as I do lol)
> 
> Some news: while I originally posted this work with the intent of finishing in two chapters, it seems now that it would work better with three. In other words, I literally. could. not. help. myself.


	3. You and Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm back finally with the final chapter!!
> 
> I know this took awhile to update compared to the last chapter, and I'm sorry. To be honest, I was pretty nervous putting this all together since I ended up changing around a lot of things from the canon D2 ending, and the povs of Audrey and Uma mean that they still don't like Mal or Ben sooooo their happy ending is a bit more rocky lol. Sorry if this isn't what you wanted, but it just felt more right to me in the context of this fanfic (I still like them as characters, don't hate me).

The Auradon Prep Cotillion was on a boat that year, ironically. Every princess and prince and otherwise of the school was there, twirling and laughing on the dancefloor without care. The sight only made Audrey sick from her “hiding spot,” or backstage she should call it. Peeking out from behind the curtains, drawn for a dramatic entrance. Maybe it wasn’t them who made her sick but the butterflies beating their wings in the pit of her stomach.

Ben stood silently behind her, a respectful three feet away as she’d requested. He was so lovesick under the spell of the cookie that he’d do anything she asked, even if it was clear he’d rather be close to her. But this wasn’t just about getting Fairy Godmother’s wand, or even freeing her soulmate’s family. It was payback for herself, just as Uma said.

People were beginning to murmur down below, wondering where their king was so late into the celebration. _Dramatic entrances are best done fashionably late_ , she thought to appease Uma, who, bless her heart, had never been to a festivity such as this before. She could feel the other girl growing just as anxious as she was, no doubt their own anxieties feeding off each other and expanding. One of the few downsides to their connection.

But finally, after Audrey took a deep breath and whispered a few encouraging words both for herself and Uma, she motioned to the royal trumpeter to announce Ben’s arrival. He nodded and ushed the king out, past the curtains and into the spotlight where he was happily received by the waiting audience.

A few more tense moments of waiting passed before the trumpeter motioned to her next. Audrey held her own hand as tenderly as he would have held Uma’s, squeezing her reassurance into her grip so the other girl could feel her comfort as she strode into the spotlight.

She heard the gasps of her fellow students and couldn’t help the small smile that escaped when she saw the unabashed look of shock upon Mal’s face below. But like the lady she was raised to be, Audrey glided down the marble staircase to the waiting king, where he held out a familiar helping hand which she ignored.

Ben faltered ever so slightly at the rejection, but nonetheless smiled as he explained to Mal that he didn’t love her—in fact had never loved her—to her horror, her embarrassment. Audrey drinked in the green eyes swimming with all the same feelings of hurt and betrayal she’d felt herself so long ago and felt vindicated.

Ben, perhaps narrow-minded to a sociopathic degree when in love, just kept talking even when Mal was practically breaking in front of him. It really was history repeating itself, except…

“May I have this dance?” Ben directed to Audrey with his arm extended in perfect waltz form, the invitation memorized by all descendants of royalty.

She smiled again and stepped back, leading to a second wave of shocked gasps from their watching audience. She did not take the offered arm.

“No, Ben.” She answered, forgoing royal titles.

Ben was dumbstruck. His arm was still stuck out stupidly, waiting for a dance that would never come. Not from her anyway. Uma cackled gleefully in her mind, and it was all Audrey could do not to laugh right along with her and instead maintain the practiced cool composure of a true rejection.

She felt the light yet commanding weight of a wand in her hands, an assurance of power from her other half that she had all the time in the world for this. Uma’s hands caressed the ornate designs deigned to the godmother, and it called to the magic singing in her veins.

A child of the Isle, she pickpocketed the instrument right under its owner’s nose. A child of the sea witch, she could wield its enchantment with the natural talent of a magic user. This was one sensation lost to Audrey; while she was indeed blessed with magic’s effect in her soulmate connection to Uma, it was not engrained in her DNA in the same way as a magic user.

The key to the barrier lay with Uma’s blood, and the key to Auradon lay with Audrey’s.

Ben’s mouth opened again with a visible question on his tongue, but Audrey was quick to interrupt,

“I don’t love you.” She continued, merciless. “Yes, you were my safety net for a long time. You helped me deny my feelings for the one I really love and provided a nice, shiny future my parents could approve of. But I never loved you. Deep down, I knew this.

“Then, when you dumped me like you did—no warning and in front of everyone—it forced me to reconcile with the other truth I knew all along: I don’t need you.” Finally, Audrey allowed herself to smile.

She turned like a princess and lifted the pink tulle of her dress to re-ascend the staircase. No one moved to stop her. The soulmate connection swelled stronger than it ever had before, to the point where it stole her breath, and she knew it was Uma on the boat. She was going to see her, _really_ see her. The anticipation alone was enough to bring happy tears to her eyes.

Audrey stood in the spotlight yet again and faced Auradon’s elite.

“I have a soulmate.” She said. “She’s the one I really love, and I wouldn’t trade our connection for the world.”

The murmurs grew louder, and Audrey could swear she heard Queen Belle say something along the lines of _“Poor Aurora”_ but it all rolled off her back. A few months ago, this would have terrified her. Her deepest, darkest secret she’d been taught to guard with walls upon walls of shame was out in the open for everyone to gawk at.

But in the end, love was stronger. She didn’t stand alone onstage—she would never stand alone again—because there was Uma, right inside her, a part of her. And now, physically, on the boat with the wand that would set them free. Uma’s grip tightened as Audrey thought of it, cementing their shared hope in a new world.

Then, with the swift suddenness of magic, the spotlight fled from Audrey to the opposite side of the boat, to the opposing stage where Uma stood: in full Auradon contour, a spellbinding sight to behold, wand raised to the heavens. The soulmates locked eyes for the first time across that distance, both too scared to breathe or look away for a second. The indignant uproar rising between them was like the mere buzzing of bees on a spring day.

“We will have that spring day,” Uma promised with happy tears threatening to fall.

Across their distance, Audrey could hear the faint words of her real voice and its much clearer intent in her head, a beautiful coexistence that at one point she never thought she’d hear. _Yes_ , she chanted aloud and in the shared kingdom of their minds, _We will have everything._

They were reminded of the timeliness of their situation when guards and students alike began charging for Uma’s place on the stage. Reacting quickly, she waved the wand with the thought of STOP and watched in amazement as they bent to her will, frozen mid-motion. Her hands shook with the sizzling power of the wand, like a firecracker on a leash. She had to cast the spell before it bucked on her, realizing it was no longer in the hold of its owner.

“By the power of the sea, tear it down and set us free!” Uma screamed to sky.

And a great blue light erupted from the wand’s tip, and the air was filled with an electrifying energy, otherworldly. The ocean parted and roared, wind whipping and water assaulting the ship in majestic waves. The barrier was down and magic was free; it was everywhere.

It was enough that Fairy Godmother’s wand finally rebelled against Uma and flung itself into the water to get away, but the damage was already done. Passengers screamed as the previous freezing spell was lifted in the chaos, now much more concerned with remaining attached to the boat than going after Uma.

Uma herself had never felt so _alive_ before—it was only when she looked down that she realized her true cecaelian form was spread out beneath her. Eight massive blue tentacles clung desperately onto the floor of the ship as its foundation rocked. They were so beautiful, natural, _hers_ that she could cry. Breathless, she looked back up to try and meet Audrey’s eyes again, to see if she saw Uma’s transformation and whether she liked what she saw.

But Uma’s face quickly fell when she realized that her soulmate was missing in the madness onboard, no longer at the stage where she could see her. Frantically, Uma slipped her consciousness towards their powerful connection and felt wet bodies slamming into her from all sides, caging her in like a stampede of frightened animals. She—no, _Audrey_ —was terrified, trying to find her.

It was all the motivation she needed to throw herself into the fray, tentacles and all. They moved at her command so naturally, strangely even more naturally than the legs she was born with and commanded all her life. The closest analogy Uma could use to describe her new form was a soulmate connection. A final long-missing puzzle piece clicking into place.

Audrey was panicking where she stood gripping onto the ship’s railing for dear life, holding on despite gravity and the crowds around her pulling her this way and that. She could feel Uma’s fear building alongside hers as she fought to find her, but Audrey couldn’t bring herself to move.

A new body slammed into hers then, this one almost strong enough to throw her off. When she turned back angrily to meet the culprit, her blood ran cold to see the green eyes of a dragon staring back at her, brighter and more powerful than she’d ever seen them.

Mal roared like the dragon she was before she transformed—the purple of her magic swirling menacingly like the storm around them until giant reptilian wings emerged from the fog and launched her into the air. The dragon hovered above the ship to the now open-mouthed gazes of all onboard, her bright green eyes seeming to search for something until they landed on the unmistakable half-octopus form of Uma.

“DUCK,” Audrey shouted out loud and across the spiritual distance of their connection, just in time as Mal roared and sent a torrent of fire Uma’s way, which she barely avoided.

“You have to get off this ship,” Audrey begged her, “Jump in the ocean where you belong; she can’t reach you there.”

It was almost funny how she could feel Uma’s head shake in protest before her thought was even complete, alarmed and ready to argue.

“Then she’ll come after you.” Uma retorted. _And what can you do to defend yourself without magic?_ Uma’s second thought escaped the privacy of her worries.

Audrey bit her lip. Whether she meant to communicate this or not, Uma had a point. Audrey would be powerless going up against Mal in her human form, let alone as a righteously pissed off dragon. But if Uma were to simply stay on the boat dodging fireball attacks and angry students, sooner or later she’d be taken down, and Audrey couldn’t live with that.

The only way she was getting out of this…

_“No.”_ Uma despaired as they both reached Audrey’s conclusion.

“I’m sorry.” Audrey said genuinely before she lept over the protective railing and off the boat.

Through the deafening haze of being underwater, Audrey could feel the vice grip of panic on Uma’s heart and she felt guilty over putting her in this position, but she could see no other way to force her soulmate to protect herself unless her life was on the line too. And just as predicted, Audrey felt the force of another person jumping into the water not a moment later, and she knew from the combined sense of worry and the warm feeling of a long-awaited homecoming that it was Uma.

Briefly, she wondered what their life together might look like in the future, with one a creature of the sea and the other an air-breathing princess. But they’ve faced bigger challenges than this to get where they are, so she couldn’t be too worried.

If there was anything to worry over, it was the steady drag of the ocean trying to pull her under, its pitch black color under the cover of night making her feel as if she was stuck in a parallel dimension. One where she couldn’t breathe. She felt like a child flailing her limbs uselessly against the turbulent nature of the storm while Uma’s tentacles effortlessly cut through the water with the grace of a figure skater.

Audrey didn’t have to try to communicate the danger she in; she knew Uma could feel it deeply with the sheer urgency of her movements that her soulmate was quickly losing air. Until they could find each other in the colorless depths of the ocean, Audrey tried to—between frantic strokes in whatever direction might be up—comfort herself with the easy exchange of oxygen in Uma’s newfound gills, right at home beneath the waves.

She was overcome with love then, for the girl she never knew but always knew, her soulmate from the Isle. Audrey loved her so much that her heart ached; she had to share this final burst of emotion with her if it was to be her last. Uma longed for her just as strongly, their overwhelming blanket of love stretched between them, but her search refused to slow for even a moment.

Audrey gave one more weak kick at the merciless ocean before she could hold in her breath no longer.

Firm but caring hands seized her tangled brown hair and directed her lolling, lifeless head to the touch of two sweet lips. They eased her own open with an urgency born of love, and she inhaled life. Audrey moaned into the first real touch of her soulmate, reveling in the way she was pulled yet closer into Uma’s cradling embrace as if she couldn’t get close enough.

Uma breathed oxygen into Audrey’s lungs, reviving them.

_It’s not over._ Uma gently chastised, swallowing the princess’s responding giggle with their deepened kiss.

All the while, she used the power of her mer-half to propel them to surface. Audrey broke away for only a second to inhale the night air before she surprised Uma with another fierce kiss where they rested. Not being one to protest, Uma merely sighed into the kiss and allowed her hands to settle gently on the soft cheeks of her soulmate.

Truthfully, she didn’t know how long they ended up kissing—too busy reveling in the feeling of Audrey’s hands in her hair, her small breathy sighs every time their lips met—but when they finally broke away to unwind, their new situation became clear.

The sea was calm, no more than a gentle lap at their bodies to suggest disturbance. Gone where the howling winds, the magic hanging in the air as prominent as humidity, hell, the entire ship and Mal the Dragon where nowhere to be seen.

“No, there it is,” Audrey corrected, pointing out a little white dot in the horizon. Their thoughts were in sync, as usual.

“Huh,” was all Uma could manage.

“The ‘storm’ must have just been an immediate side effect of casting a spell that powerful,” Audrey continued, “And look, it veered the ship way off course _way_ too quickly to not be magical.”

Uma laughed, half incredulous and half in shock. Audrey laughed too, even though she couldn’t quite decipher what her soulmate found so funny; it was just contagious.

“What is it?” Audrey giggled.

“It’s just,” Uma sighed, happy. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted. Escaping the Isle, breaking the barrier, getting my tentacles, meeting _you_.”

Audrey flushed.

“It’s more than I ever could have hoped for, and it’s all happened in the space of, like, an hour.” Uma laughed. “So yeah, that’s pretty funny to me.”

Audrey couldn’t help it; she leaned in to kiss her again, this time just a quick press of her strawberry gloss against lips soaked in saltwater, but meaningful all the same. They were both smiling like idiots in the middle of the ocean, happy to let the rest of the world fade away until Uma spotted another ship headed towards them—this one all too familiar.

* * *

 

Audrey and Uma hadn’t let go of each other since reuniting, even as Uma’s pirate crew welcomed them onboard and fawned over the soulmate that their captain spoke so fondly of. They had a million questions to ask, the youngest ones the least hesitant to bombard them, but Uma shooed them all away until they could at least get Audrey a towel.

She was nervous, introducing the girl she cared most about to the family of friends she’d known all her life, but of course Audrey sensed this and gave a reassuring squeeze where their hands met, allowing her own relaxed state of mind to infiltrate her soulmate’s.

They seemed to love her anyway, judging from how they collectively rushed to wrap her in their biggest (albeit most musty) towel and sit her down on the main deck, chattering all the while. Audrey, for her part, chatted back easily, happy to get to know the kids Uma trusted with her life.

Sometimes one would let slip some embarrassing story about their captain, leaving her to groan and hide her face in her hands, but Audrey would only laugh goodnaturedly and hold her tighter as she revealed her own embarrassing stories. It was easy like that, until the topic of the future came up: namely, the Jolly Roger’s next destination.

“We’re going back to Auradon, right?” Audrey asked in confusion.

“We can stop there, yeah. But _I_ can’t be tied down.” Harry boasted. “Pirate’s life for me.”

Uma rolled her eyes fondly. “He wants to travel the world.”

Audrey made a noise of understanding, then paused in thought. “You know… that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“You don’t want to go and see your parents first?” Uma asked. “Or hell, how the crown’s gonna handle our mess?”

Audrey winced. “I don’t think I’m ready to face my parents yet. As far as they know, I haven’t stopped taking those awful pills. Once they find out I’m with you— _you_ , my soulmate from the Isle… they’ll be furious.”

She squeezed Uma’s hand tighter. “I just want to enjoy this a little longer.”

Uma smiled with understanding in her eyes. “Okay.”

With Audrey’s head resting on Uma’s shoulder and Uma’s head resting on Audrey’s, they continued talking about anything and everything. The rest of the pirates eventually grew bored with conversation and filtered out to each of their sleeping quarters, but the soulmates remained.

Alone on deck, they held each other silently, no need for excess words between them as their souls were as close as they could be, as complete as they could be. It felt so right to be together in a way nothing else did. Yes, the future was going to be crazy: the Isle’s barrier down and its inhabitants freed, Auradon’s response to this still up in the air, and even Uma’s cecaelian form were all cause to wonder what would become of the world.

But for now, the two were content to simply gaze up at the stars above and keep tomorrow at bay for a few more hours.

⚢

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like it's the end :'(
> 
> To everyone who enjoyed reading this fic, left comments or kudos or just supported me with your hits, thank you.
> 
> One final note, I know the ending is a bit crazy and open-ended and I tried to remedy some of that with the newspaper clipping (the polaroids were just me having fun lol), but I kind of wanted it to be that way? I didn't want to focus too much of the story's end on events outside of the pairing, which is the center of the story anyway.
> 
> If you want to some extra story, I headcanon Audrey and Uma spending some time traveling the world in the Jolly Roger, but they eventually return to school in Auradon where they make up with Mal + core four and everyone's friends yayyyy.
> 
> Ok, goodbye for real. I love you guys <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, friend. Feel free to scream with me about this pairing in the comments section


End file.
